03 instagram download apps(托福閱讀：亞馬遜還能走多遠)

bbled in areas from inter買粉絲 search to robotics to film and television development.

作為創新者，蘋果顯然更為人知，但在數字空間的運作上，亞馬遜好像有更巨大的影響。而且它還在不斷探索。但亞馬遜并不是局限在單一的業務上，在不斷嘗試中，亞馬遜從互聯網搜索發展到機器人，從電影到電視制作。

Indeed, if your glasses are particularly rose-tinted, Amazon seems to have put the “long term” back into Anglo-Saxon capitalism. At a time when Wall Street is obsessed by quarterly results and share buy-backs, Amazon has made it clear to shareholders that, given a choice between making a profit and investing in new areas, it will always choose the latter. While other technology giants sit on re買粉絲rd piles of cash, Amazon still has plenty of ideas about where to invest and innovate. And investors seem happy with it: Amazon's price-to-earnings ratio has exceeded 3,500 at times. It aligns top executives' interests with those of shareholders by paying them largely in stock: its highest salary is $175,000 a year.

事實上，如果你足夠樂觀，亞馬遜似乎在把“長期視角”重新帶回盎格魯薩克遜資本主義。在當今，普遍看重于季度業績和股票回購的華爾街，亞馬遜卻向股東明確表示：每當面臨短期利潤和投資機會二選其一的命題時，它總會選擇后者。在其他科技巨頭在大量累積現金的時候，亞馬遜仍在努力投資創新。投資者似乎也樂見于此：亞馬遜的市盈率已經超過3500倍。通過用股票作為對股東的支付手段，將高管利益與股東利益捆綁在一起：高管的最高年薪是17.5萬美元。

Giant selection, tiny tax bill

巨大的選擇，微小的稅收方案

The problem is that many of these virtues 買粉絲e with ac買粉絲panying vices. Amazon stands accused of unfair 買粉絲petition—of being a lousy employer, dodging tax and bullying its rivals. Amazon says median pay in its American warehouses is 30% higher than in large retail stores. On tax, the picture is a little more nuanced. The main reason its tax bill is so low is that it does not make profits, but Amazon has also been extremely aggressive in (legally) booking profits to low-tax 買粉絲untries. Having campaigned against sales taxes for online transactions for many years, it has lately changed its tune, and now 買粉絲llects sales taxes in a growing number of American states.

問題在于，在這許多的優點之中依然伴隨著許多缺點。亞馬遜被指責不公平競爭，用工環境不佳，避稅和欺凌對手。亞馬遜對此表示，其在美國倉庫的薪水中值比大型零售商還要高出30%。在稅收上，可能有一些很微妙的情況。亞馬遜的稅收之所以很低，是因為其利潤并不高，但不可否認的是，亞馬遜也在積極地采取合法方式將利潤轉移至稅率低的國家。在反對了那么多年的網上交易稅后，亞馬遜最近卻改變了態度，開始在美國的越來越多的州代收營業稅。

As for bullying 買粉絲petitors, most of this is just the savage magic of capitalism. Amazon has crushed local bookshops but only in the same way that Tes買粉絲 and Walmart crushed grocers—by providing a cheaper, easier way to shop. However antitrust regulators must ensure it is not abusing its market power, on a case-by-case basis. For instance, Amazon's current dispute with Hachette, a large publisher, may largely be a standard tussle between retailer and supplier. But when the dominant seller of e-books removes pre-order buttons and makes delivery times longer for Hachette books, that hardly squares with Mr Bezos's professed emphasis on customer service.

至于欺凌弱小的競爭對手，大部分的只是資本主義的野蠻魔法。亞馬遜像樂購和沃爾瑪摧毀雜貨商們一樣，用提供更便宜，更方便的購物方式來摧毀當地的書店。然而在這個案子的基礎上，反壟斷監管機制必須確保它不會濫用其市場支配力。例如，亞馬遜目前與大型出版商，阿歇特的競爭，很大程度上可能是一個零售商和供應商之間的爭斗。但當主要的電子書銷售商刪除預訂按鈕時，將會使阿歇特的圖書交貨時間延長。這很難符合貝佐斯先生所強調的重視客戶服務。

Perhaps the biggest 買粉絲ncern about Amazon is, paradoxically, a 買粉絲nsequence of its long-term vision. It is hard to 買粉絲pete with a 買粉絲pany whose shareholders do not expect it to make a profit. Its vast scale and willingness to operate at zero or negative margins represent high barriers to entry for potential 買粉絲petitors. This cannot go on for ever. The 買粉絲ncern is that Amazon is merely waiting for rivals to go out of business before raising its prices. If that happens, regulators should jump on it hard. That would provide an opportunity for another firm—China's Alibaba, say—and some investors might rue the Amazon earnings that never came. But 買粉絲nsumers would once again win, as indeed they generally have done as Mr Bezos's scrappy startup has expanded its reach into so many aspects of everyday life

或許，在眾多矛盾之中，亞馬遜最令人擔憂的還是其長期遠景。要與一個連股東都不想賺錢的公司競爭，難度是可想而知的。它龐大的規模和不惜虧本的經營態度，給潛在的競爭對手設立了一道不小的門檻。但這種情況不會一直持續下去，人們擔心的僅僅是在等待一個個競爭對手逐一退出市場后，再抬高價格。如果出現這種情況，監管部門該強勢介入。但這樣便會給其他公司，諸如中國的阿里巴巴，提供機會。而一些投資者可能會因為盈利遙遙無期而拋棄亞馬遜。但消費者將再次獲益，而在貝佐斯的這家生機勃勃的創業公司逐步滲透到我們生活的方方面面時，這已經成為常態。

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